Frantaglais blah-blah...

Why Frantaglais? Well, I came up with this title as my posts, from time to time, will be en français (in French), en anglais (in English), and/or en Tagalog, my mother tongue. In any case, you find my writing weak, just bear with me please or leave. This is my blog after all. No one forces you to read it.

lundi, février 28, 2005

How about une petite chanson?

One of my favorite songs, Pink Martini's "Sympathique". Wanna try singing in French? Please scroll down slowly...or just click on the link if you're having problems viewing the video.C'est parti!!!

mercredi, février 23, 2005

Birthday Weekend

We had a very fatiguing, enervating weekend! But now I feel good, It's winter vacation, now I can breathe easy...

Our daughter Clémentine turned 4 last Friday. We celebrated her big day on the day itself tranquillement, just among us 4. It was just a simple birthday dinner, a 4-course dinner. We had smoked salmon pour l'entrée (for appetizer), the main course was entrecôte steak with mashed carrots & potatoes, Bresse Bleu, Munster and Camembert cheeses for the third course then finally finished with a small birthday cake. Cléms, very excitingly, blew out her "four" birthday candles and opened her cadeaux (presents).

Saturday morning, friends (GGiant's childhood friends) from Paris called up, to tell us that they wanted to come over to give Cléms her presents. Zut!, "I haven't gone to the supermarket yet, the fridge's empty! They should have called up yesterday!" I told the hubby. "Oh, isn't that nice of them to think of our daughter on her birthday?"he answered. Yeah, but I hate situations like this, people calling up at the last minute. "Purée!, I haven't even taken a shower!" I yelled into the phone. Anyway, we had no choice for they insisted, "begged" I guess is the appropriate term, telling us that they'll be having loads of work for the next three weeks and twas preferable to see each other that day. What else can we do? So, I finally rushed to the supermarket (after my shower, of course hehe) and did the grocery shopping earlier than planned.

We asked them to come at around 4 o'clock for the afternoon goûter (snack, merienda, teatime; whatever you want to call it). But they arrived 1 & 1/2 hours late. Mon Dieu! Can you believe that? Ok, fine. Even if these guys happen to be the most farfelu (wacky, no dull moments guaranteed!) persons I've ever met in my whole life, they're just so adorable, so gentil (kindhearted). So even if you wanna get furious, you just can't! And, since they were late and it was no longer time for a goûter, I decided to prepare the dinner instead. Fortunately, I bought a whole chicken, almost 2 kilos in weight. I rubbed it with olive oil, seasoned with salt & pepper, put stalks of rosemary, put it in the oven and basta! I also prepared tomato & mozzarella salad, avec (with) lots of European basil et voilà!

We started with apéros (cocktail drinks and aperitifs) and finished the dinner with another birthday cake. For the second time, our daughter blew out the candles and thanked them for the presents. Oh, It was already quarter past one in the morning when we wished them, "bonne nuit" (good night).

Sunday, as planned, as what we really planned...the relatives, coming over to celebrate with us our daughter's birthday. Again? Yes, we invited them the week before. So as early as 3 o'clock in the afternoon, everybody was present. Hehe, at least they were punctual eh?

Ok, we started with coffee, that took a bit long for there were ones who had two to three servings. And at around 5 o'clock, our daughter blew out her birthday candles and received her gifts...for the third time. Glasses of champagne were served with the cake.

Since not everyone's on vacation and that there were still some who would be working early the day after, I chose not to delay things. Alright, I gave them time to catch their breath after this sumptuous gâteau (cake) and served the apéros at around seven. But this time it took really looong. We only started the dinner at about half past nine. Heureusement (Fortunately), the hubby had convinced me for a spaghetti carbonara and pizza dinner. Simple and easy to prepare. He did all the cooking. He cooked the carbonara sauce and prepared the pizzas early in the morning. So we just had to boil the water for the noodles and put the pizzas in the oven. Just the same, it was almost midnight when everybody decided to get up from their seats to finally go home.

dimanche, février 13, 2005

The Old Paris

I chanced upon an old book that apparently belonged to G.Giant's great-grandmother (her name's written on the first page). It's a photography book. A book which was once owned by someone who lived for 86 years and who has been gone many years ago, must be something of value, of great value. It is awesome, with exquisite photographs on every page, old photographs. These are not just ordinary photographs of people, but also of places in Paris taken so many years ago, the old Paris. But of course, expect that the photos are in black and white and in not-so-good-quality but you can see details of the subjects photographed clearly enough.

So for someone who's curious about how the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral) looked like 152 years ago (the photo was taken in 1853) or how the famous Palais du Louvre was when Napoléon Bonaparte was still the Emperor of France (now a museum since 1791) and of course the not to forget France's symbol, La Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower), this is the book that answers it all. I was totally amazed and glad to have found this book. I found it in the basement, where we put our worth-throwing-stuff. I was actually down there looking for my old collection of Michael Franks' albums, but helas! I don't know where the hubby put them. Then I found the book. It smells strongly of I-don't-know-how-to-explain-it-odour! It smells 'old'. Its cover is made of oilcloth-covered cardboard. I took it with me up to the apartment and wiped the cover with alcohol as what I always do after buying books (fingerprints disgust me, hehe), and started feuilleter (to leaf through) the pages.

The Notre Dame de Paris.(in 1853 and today, I posted a recent photo to see the difference). Click here for a better view.An anonymous photographer took these incredible shots. The construction of the Eiffel Tower (1887-1889)At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7300 tons, it was the tallest building in the world until 1930.Other statistics include: 2.5 million rivets, 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets), 40 tons of paint and 1652 steps to the top.Click for a larger version.

Le Palais de Louvre, photo taken in 1839. Click here......and here. Le Pont Neuf, Paris' most famous bridge, photo taken in 1861.

What a marvelous discovery of a rare book!

As I was leafing through the pages, I was as though 'returned back' to the past. I started wondering...how these people were, did they live a hand-to-mouth existence? (for some of the photos reveal the situation)...or maybe it was just the so-called simple life, the real one, no chi-chis, no objections, no quibbling over unsignificant things...not like today. And the monuments, as if I was looking at them now...they looked exactly the same except for the houses, fields or farms around them, some of them no longer exist today. The women, they looked hardy...as if they functioned as men... as though they had no choice for if not they won't survive. Some of the images made me feel somewhat pitiful, and yet, I kind of wished to have my life lived in the past. Strange...

jeudi, février 10, 2005

Music Meme. Play along.

Apparently, there's this so-called "Music Meme" that's been going around from one blog to another. It's some kind of a chain letter, but it works by naming or 'tagging' 3 persons whom you wish to do the same. And a crazy yet gentil Chinese woman, Mrs T, just tagged me today! Ok, she was tagged by Obachan, who was tagged by Alicat, who was tagged by...oh, she didn't say. But what am I supposed to write about music? Call me untrendy, naff, unhip...whatever you like but honestly speaking, I'm a 100 percent nulle when it comes to music. I don't listen to it anymore! R n B? Hip-hop? What are these? Sorry friends but to tell you the truth the last CD I bought, as far as I remember, was Robbie William's Supreme. See? That was about 4 years ago when my daughter Cléms wasn't born yet and I guess having a kid at home who has a cartoon collection, I'd rather cite cartoons' titles and characters than to cite titles of songs. Anyways, for the fun of it, I'll participate, I'm playing along. What sort of music do I listen to nowadays? Ok, here it (Music Meme) goes...

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

I don't know, hehe...

The CD you last bought?

Robbie William'sSupreme (I told you, hehe)

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?

There was no music playing, couldn't put the radio on...Cléms was watching Garfield. ^_^

Write down five songs that you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

1. I don't like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats2. Close to me by The Cure3. Just like Heaven by The Cure4. In Between Days by The Cure5. Solitude by Billie HolidayHey, don't make fun of me! Don't judge me by the kind of music I'm listening to. I love these songs for they bring back memories. That's all. ^_^

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?Ok, I have many persons in mind that I want to tag, but can't do that, I'd be breaking the rule. So I'm choosing these 3 persons whom I think, updated enough in the world of music.

1. Thess. A music lover, well, I presume...her blog shows it.

2. Beng. Though she's right now in the middle of relaxation, catching rays and getting a lot of zzzz's, I think she'll find time to do this.

3. Drstel. Ah, another music lover, I'm sure she's game for this. She's got music in her kitchen too.

samedi, février 05, 2005

Mon grand bébé, Koko

This is Koko, our 14-year old son. I've nothing much to say about him, except that he's a good son. He's a shy type but sympathetic and friendly. He's helpful around the house and a kid who would rather stay at home to read, play with his PS, draw or paint than to 'hang around' with other kids his age. He's active in sports and been doing really great in school, le premier in his class (hey, i'm just a proud mother no?). The only thing I hate about him is when he makes a face when I give him hugs and kisses... in front of his friends, hehehe...

He's got a little adventure lately. A French magazine, Geo-Ado, contacted him for this, en couverture (on the cover) of this month's issue. It's a magazine for teenagers. It's like the National Geographic magazine, it covers everything from culture, geography, science, technology, nature...to many more. Click here, here and here for more of Koko et compagnie's images.

Koko's been smiling ear to ear ^_^ because this petit adventure permitted him to buy himself a games console's (PS) latest model. Bien.